4-5 sessions per ounce
4+ infustions per session

Notes of savory cherry, distant fire, and wintergreen.

As delicious as it is beautiful, this striking tea is unlike any other black tea. There are immediate and powerful dark fruit-pit notes alongside a wintergreen-like expression, which is quite striking and unique. The dark red quality of this tea seems to go beyond just the rich ruby color.

Taiwan is world renowned for its oolong tea but little is known of its phenomenal Black tea which is often referred to as Sun Moon Lake Black tea due to the location of its growth and production. This black tea is as unique and special as the oolong produced on the special island.

Ruby #18 is relatively new tea cultivar developed in 1999 at the TRES (Taiwan Tea Research and Extension Station) by crossing Assamica with a wild Qing Xin. In the production process the tea is brought to full oxidation, where it develops a rich and sweet brew that has some mi xiang (honey taste) qualities.

The tea brews with an red color, strong body, and smooth texture. We recommend brewing with 200 degree water for the first infusion which should be 1 minute. Increasing brew time with subsequent infusions.

Featured Review

This tastes so good. I wish you were here to share a cup. It is honey and plums? Maybe my first instinct of grapes wasn't so far off. Caramel and cocoa notes are in here as well. Then it finishes with this sensation of mint. Not the taste, the sensation. And not the harsher spearmint type either. This is a very comforting and welcome cooling like from winter mint.

I have to admit, as soon as I saw Ruby 18 Taiwanese Black, I was pretty certain I was going to love this tea. I am not disappointed. In fact I am a bit elated. It has been a while since my last Sun Moon Lake cup and I don't recall any of them having the cooling (and lingering) aftertaste. Possibly they did and I have forgotten.

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This powerful quarter-century oolong was aged alongside ginseng, and has mellowed beautifully while maintaining vitality.

Notes of ginseng, goldenseal, apricot pit, and leather.

Surprising to some, tea can be aged adding great new flavor profiles and nuances that new tea does not contain. Aging tea is an art and requires skill, attention and know-how. It is not just a matter of putting the tea away in a clay jar in the attic somewhere and finding it years later (although that also occurs). In order for tea to age well a number of conditions must be met relating to temperature, humidity and isolation from strong odors that can ruin a batch of aging tea. Tea that is not aged properly can have an overly sour taste and stale smell to the leaves. When aged with artistry something wholly new is created.

This treasured Aged Ginseng Oolong is such a treat! It has the mellowed smoothness of an aged oolong with the rich sweet finish that the gentle ginseng scenting provides. It is just a hint or light brush stroke of ginseng, most likely the dusting of a fine ginseng powder placed on the tea before its long slumber in clay vessels.

This tea has a rich dark color that is smooth without any bitterness or astringency. It is satisfying and due to its age is of limited quantity.

As High Mountain varieties go this Jade's nitrogen "oxidation" (GABA process) imparts a profile that is both toasty and floral. The later infusions become more vegetal and deep.

Notes of sesame, toast, dandelion flowers, and chocolate.

Cui Yu Jade GABA is a relatively new type of oolong with a very interesting profile with notes of earthy flowers and toasted nuts.Many people consume GABA tea for health / neurological benefits, and this one is especially delicious.

GABA stands for Gamma-Aminobutyric acid. It is an inhibitory neurotransmitter. In Asia, particularly Japan, there is significant health buzz about it as being very calming, lowering stress and anxiety, helping abate mental fatigue, reducing risks of cancer, etc…

The process of making GABA tea is what makes it unique.Instead of oxidizing the leaves, the harvested leaves are processed and reduced in a oxygen free, nitrogen rich environment.The result is sometimes a tea that tastes smoother and warmer than a similarly oxidized tea. I've had some that are good, medium, and poor, so GABA isn't necessarily a hallmark of quality.

This light green high mountain GABA that uses the Cui Yu varietal, also known as Jade, is exceptional and has a clean, floral, and nutty profile with a round and balanced mouth-feel.There are notes of toasted sesame that later transform into a humid summer's day of cutting wild bramble, followed by returning to the house for a piece of rich chocolate.

Brew this Cui Yu Jade GABA like other Taiwanese semi-ball rolled oolongs with 200 degree water for 30 second infusions.To bring out more of the nutty quality increase the time.This is a forgiving tea that can handle lots of variation in brew time so feel free to experiment.

Traditional Taiwanese heavy charcoal roasting is matched by the sturdiness the Tie Guan Yin varietal. The result is a very pleasant and deep roast.

﻿Notes of warm caramel, burnt sugar, molasses, and amber.

Tie Guan Yin is perhaps the most famous of oolong varieties because of its complexity and resilience.That resilience is one of the reasons it was chosen for heavy roasting, which is one of the most traditional preparation methods.This tea is as pleasant as a cup of coffee on a weekend morning.

Tei Guan Yin was one of the transplants from China that thrived in Taiwan.No single variety will grow the same and with the same characteristics in two different places.This Tie Guan Yin is from Nantou County in the central mountainous region of Taiwan.Quality heavy roast Tie Guan Yin is hard to find in China these days, as they tend to roast them much lighter.

The Taiwanese are master roasters, and the traditional longan charcoal roasting process used for this tea lasted for over two weeks.Walking into a room of roasting tea leaves is like walking into a room of flowers and earth being warmed by a hidden sun.

In the roasting process, most of the floral properties of a high mountain oolong with be given up in favor of the warming and mellow properties of roasting.This Dark Roast Tie Guan Yin was chosen for heavy 80% roasting because it had a strong vitality and qi.Therefore the final product became two-dimensional: both strong roast and strong body.

Brew this tea longer to bring out the depth.I recommend 200 degree water with at least a 1 minute infusion.There is no astringency in this tea, so feel free to experiment.